This is canon divergence from Season 5 - taking place a year after the break up. I spent the majority of my time for Seblaine week working on this fic, then decided that I should make it a multi-chapter because there was no way I was going to finish it in time, and I wanted to write some other stuff, too! So I've written a lot of it out - updates (hopefully) will be weekly.
He told himself he didn't care, pushed the window open wide,
Felt an emptiness inside to which he just could not relate,
Brought on by a simple twist of fate.
- Bob Dylan
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me."
His new roommate is perched on his bed, arms folded over his chest, signature smirk greeting Blaine as soon as he enters the room.
"Hey roomie," Sebastian has the nerve to utter in reply, tone laced with delighted amusement.
He feels Sebastian's eyes trail over his body – first his lips, then torso, and they make their way down to an area which Blaine would rather he stay the hell away from, thank you very much.
"Did you do this?" Blaine asks abruptly, because he is in no mood for this. He's already had a shitty start to university life, having arrived on campus late due to a delayed flight, and taken forever to find his dorm in the heavy downpour, before finally, finally arriving to his actual room, soaked from head to toe, only to find Sebastian Smythe on the twin bed across from what he assumes is his own, leaning back against the headboard lazily, long legs stretched out and crossed over in front of him.
He's vaguely aware of the trickling sound of the rain from the window, but his focus lies solely on the person in front of him.
"Believe it or not, Blaine, this is a surprise to me, too. Not that I'm not happy to see you." Sebastian wags his eyebrows pointedly, and Blaine flushes, averting his eyes. "Ah, there's my favourite bashful schoolboy."
He lets out a low growl, before dragging his case through the door. He's soaked and miserable and desperate for a warm shower and a change of clothes. So much so that he's delaying marching straight down to student services to demand that they relocate him instantly.
"Should we call it fate?" Sebastian continues casually, as if he doesn't notice Blaine's standoffish demeanour. He does, of course. Blaine knows he does. He just glowers in reply, before rifling through his case, pulling out something to change into and making his way into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him for extra emphasis.
"Do you want company?" He hears Sebastian yell from the other side of the door. Blaine grumbles, ignoring the tightening of his chest.
If it's fate, fate certainly has a sense of humour. Whatever deity, if any, exists, they're probably pointing and laughing at him right now. In fact, he's even willing to bet that his parents have been right all along – that God truly does exist, and is punishing him for his homosexuality. It's the only explanation, really.
He runs his hands over his face, enjoying the feel of the water as it trickles over him, enveloping him in a comfortable heat. Good water pressure, he notes. Sadly, that's the best news he's had all day.
He finds Sebastian still in the same spot, but with a laptop draped over his thighs as he exits the shower – already dried and dressed in a lose-fitting t-shirt and pyjama bottoms, obviously, because otherwise he knows he'd have been an easy target for the other male to tease some more.
He ruffles his hair with the towel, and throws it haplessly into the laundry basket in the corner of their room, then moves back to his case, pulling out his laptop then zipping it back up and throwing it under his bed with a thump.
"Not unpacking, Killer?"
"Don't call me that," Blaine bites out from gritted teeth, before shifting himself up onto the bed, own laptop in hand. "And no. I don't plan to be staying."
Sebastian lets out a derisive snort. "Wow, I didn't realise that my presence caused you that much anguish, Anderson. Care to share how you plan on doing that, when I'm sure you know as well as I do that the dorms are full?"
Blaine rolls his eyes, a harsh heat crawling through his skin, soaking into his bones. "I'm sure they'll work something out when I tell them that the roommate they paired me up with is the psycho that nearly blinded me one time."
A deafening silence fills the room, then. Blaine can't quite bring himself to look at Sebastian, but he hears the other boy's breath jutter ever so slightly – his bravado dipping a little, and okay – now he feels a little bad.
After all – the entire thing happened years ago, and Blaine's over it – well, mostly. He still can't help the sting of betrayal that he feels whenever he thinks of Sebastian. Sebastian had become a friend of sorts. A confidant. Then, suddenly, he had turned on him, fucking betrayed him, injured him. Turned what was once playful flirting into something that was far more sour.
Not that he should have been flirting in the first place, he reminds himself firmly. He still feels the ache of guilt in his bones, despite the fact that he hasn't even spoken to Kurt in over a year.
"I meant it when I said I was sorry, you know."
It's so quiet, that Blaine thinks he's imagined it for a second. But, no – Sebastian is watching him closely, lips tight.
Blaine sighs, running his palms over his face, attempting to rub the tiredness from his eyes. "I know. I just- look, it's been a long day, Sebastian. Can we just- not talk about this right now? I need to email my parents, let them know I've arrived, then I need to sleep. I haven't slept in over twenty-four hours."
To Blaine's surprise, Sebastian holds up his hands in a gesture of defeat, saying nothing more.
Huh. Maybe he does have some form of humanity, after all.
The next morning goes a little smoother than the night before. They don't have any classes until the following week, but Sebastian isn't in the opposite bed when Blaine stirs. He finds he's a little grateful for the reprieve, intentional on the other male's part or not.
It's not for long, though. Sebastian returns carrying two coffees, cheeks tinged pink from the cold. He's wearing a ripped jeans, a black, heavy pilot jacket, with a grey and black striped scarf fixed around his neck, and Blaine's immediately taken aback with the casual appearance.
It's not like he's never seen Sebastian out of his Dalton uniform. The night they went to Scandals, for example, he had been dressed in jeans and a polo, but it was still odd for him to see.
And, dammit, he looks good. Of course he does, because he's Sebastian, and Blaine's always felt a pull towards him, but he can't allow himself to give in just because he's single this time. Still, it wouldn't do any harm to give the other male a chance at being friends again, would it?
"Peace offering," Sebastian says, holding out one of the cups for Blaine to take.
Blaine rubs the sleep from his eyes with his free hand, gripping onto the coffee with the other, and Sebastian watches him, a small, fond smile quipped his way. Then, he places his own coffee on the cabinet next to his bed, kicking off his shoes and stripping his jacket and scarf, and the springs in his mattress groan as he hoists himself onto it.
As Sebastian pulls his cup back into his hand, Blaine takes a sip of his own coffee, immediately tasting the blend of caffeine and cinnamon, and the fact that Sebastian remembers how exactly Blaine takes his coffee sends a shiver down his spine that he's pretty sure has nothing to do with the autumn chill in the air.
"So, still thinking about transferring? Or can I talk you into giving me a chance? I can try to limit the amount of times I stare at your ass per day, but I can't make any promises." Sebastian tells him, raising his cup in Blaine's direction.
It's a defensive tactic – Blaine can tell. Sebastian's asking him to give him a chance (not for the first time), and he's playing it off to lighten the situation. Sebastian tugs his bottom lip with his teeth, and he's avoiding Blaine's gaze, and in comparison to Sebastian's normally stoic demeanour, he looks so vulnerable, and it tugs at Blaine's heartstrings a little.
He doesn't mention it though, just huffs, rolling his eyes in the other's direction. "I won't hold my breath."
Sebastian's lips creep into a small smile around his cup, and Blaine fixes his attention on his own, because even if he's willing to give this roommate thing a chance, it doesn't mean that he's willing to let his feelings get the better of him. He's smarter than that.
The end of the week draws near, and his first week with Sebastian has gone by pretty much without incident. They don't talk much – opting pretty much to keep to themselves, but it's not awkward. They're just... learning how to navigate around each other's space.
He hasn't told anyone from McKinley who his new roommate is. He's pretty sure that Tina will throw a fit, and Artie would definitely have something disapproving to say. Sam, on the other hand, probably wouldn't really cause too much of a fuss, just merely voice his distrust of Sebastian and warn Blaine to be careful.
Which, he is, of course. Being careful. He's not an idiot. He knows that he has to be wary of Sebastian, no matter how amicable things have been between them the past week.
His roommate goes out pretty late on the Saturday night, returning home at stupid-o'clock in the morning, and the unmistakable scent of sex and alcohol follows him through the door. Blaine scoffs internally, his stomach churning, but pretends to be asleep. Still, he can't help but feel a little grateful that he didn't bring whatever nameless, faceless guy that he had chosen to occupy his time with back to their dorm. It seemed that even Sebastian has some boundaries after all.
He hears ruffling, and a thump, and Sebastian lets out a small giggle. Blaine huffs in a surprising spurt of amusement, but he doesn't think Sebastian catches it, because he just crashes into the mattress and his breathing evens out immediately.
"Ughhh, I'm dying."
Blaine rolls his eyes, but rifles through his bag anyway, digging out the painkillers that he'd stored for emergency purposes – which apparently, now includes hungover roommates. Padding over to the fridge, he wraps his fingers around a cold bottle of water, carrying it back over to Sebastian's bed.
"Fun night?" Blaine asks in amusement, silently revelling in seeing the usually composed and confident Sebastian Smythe in such a vulnerable position.
"Ugh." Sebastian repeats, downing two painkillers with a single gulp of water, and Blaine licks his lips as he watches the other male's Adam's apple bob in his throat.
"I'll take that as a yes," Blaine decides, hopping back onto his own mattress, pulling over his laptop. Sebastian doesn't reply, just rolls over with a quiet whine (which, totally not adorable. Nope).
Even after classes start back, Blaine notices that Sebastian disappears a lot at night, and it's kind of starting to bother him, because maybe he was starting to come around to the idea of maybe thinking about trusting him again, but any time he decides that he's going to ask Sebastian if he wants to hang out with him, Sebastian is either getting ready to go out or has already left by the time Blaine returns back to the dorm after class – because apparently law students get earlier class time than the theatre students, and Blaine can't help but feel slightly irked by that.
He tries not to think about the fact that he's out getting laid, because that is absolutely none of his concern, and definitely should not bother him as much as it does.
So things are kept at a distance for a while – they continue to orbit around one another, friendly but not exactly friends.